The seventh annual Uptime Institute Symposium in Santa Clara drew about 1,700 data center professionals and vendors last week for a series of keynotes, workshops and sessions that addressed the latest developments in data center technology, techniques for achieving better energy efficiency, and real-life case studies of data center deployments.
In addition to the traditional Data Center infrastructure on the show floor, this year’s event featured a large area dedicated to Modular Data Center solutions, which drew a steady flow of visitors each day. NEI was proud to be part of it, with our D-Series 380V DC platform solutionsfeatured within the IO.Anywhere® Data Module, a fully integrated modular data center system powered by ABB’s direct current technology.
Overall, the main themes of the show were efficiency and modularity. While in the past, modular did not always mean the most efficient designs, keynotes from eBay and IO indicated that this is no longer the case. On the subject of efficiency, Dean Nelson, Vice President of Global Foundation Services (GFS) at eBay, presented a summary of the results of eBay’s recent Project Mercury. This initiative focused on a large state-of-the-art data center that has 12MW of capacity in a 7,000-sqare-foot area. The reported PUE numbers inside this footprint were very impressive. The clear takeaway from eBay was a move towards liquid cooling down to the chip to achieve even higher transactions per watt.
On the modularity theme, George Slessman, CEO of IO, presented a keynote that highlighted the benefits of the IO Anywhere® Data, with the IO team demonstrating their DCIM flexibility and control during the presentation. The demo featured an unauthorized entry of a secure module in the Phoenix location. Impressively, Mr. Slessman received a visual alert from the DCIM on stage in real time and simply moved the workload to another module to resolve the security intrusion without any downtime.
In keeping with the show themes, NEI, IO, and Validus/ABB hosted a breakfast Wednesday morning to discuss the future of the Modular Data Center and how the efficiency of 380V DC power will be a part of it. Analysts and end users were on hand to enjoy the food and technical debate of speakers from each of the companies.
Deploying in a Data Center? Contact NEI at (800) 977-1010 or visit us at www.NEI.com/DATACENTER to learn more about 380V DC based platforms and a broad range of services that ease deployment challenges and get your solutions to market better, faster and more cost effectively.